When I decided to write a novel, I sat down and wrote it. This turned out to be a terrible idea. The draft I ended up with was unreadable. It contained every obvious rookie mistake. Then I started to learn to write properly, and redrafted my book along the way.

It took ten years.

I submitted the finished novel about 20 times and got praise and ‘almost but not quite’ replies from publishers and agents. So I wrote another book, using everything I’d learned. This one took just over a year, and the first publisher I sent it to bought it. (Transferral is available now, from Chapters/Indigo, Amazon.ca or pre-order from Barnes and Noble, if you’re interested.)

I wouldn’t recommend doing it this way. If you want to write, here is my advice.

I don’t believe that anyone is a write-off as a human. Especially not thousands of people. Yet, in the recent Hugo Awards, around 1,800 people voted for the slate of the Sad/Rabid Puppies. A group that most media outlets have tagged as sexist at least, and are frequently called racist, misogynistic and trans/homophobic. Continue reading →

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I love Word on the Street. It’s a festival I’ve attended regularly for years. I’ve gone on my own, brought my daughter and mother, and brought my Little Sister (with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Toronto). I’ve had a Margaret Atwood book signed there, listened to some of my favourite authors talk, discovered all kinds of good books and supported friends at their readings and panels. So it’s extremely exciting to be on stage there myself.

Over the last couple of months, I’ve been taking a stand-up course. I did my first ever set in a small club on Monday, and I’ll be doing my grad show on Sunday (and then I’ll stop – it’s been fun but I don’t the time to pursue comedy seriously). Throughout the course it has struck me how much learning stand-up is like learning to write. Here are seven things that both comics and authors must do. Continue reading →

Why work hard on a well-rounded character, when you can use Empathix? Rub a generous amount of Empathix over your character’s main features to make them more attractive to readers. Covers up inconsistencies in personality while giving the illusion of intriguing contradictions. Continue reading →

I’ve seen a lot of blogs posts lately on how ‘creatives’ simply can’t be punctual, pay attention to practical details or meet deadlines. Because their creativity makes it impossible to show consideration for the needs of the people they are working with. (It’s not their fault. Creatives apparently feel things more than those dull, numb ordinary people.)

The thing is, I know a lot of people doing well in creative fields – including writers, film-makers, actors, and comedians. And they don’t behave the way those blog posts describe ‘creatives’ behaving.

There are exceptions, but here these five things I find separate the professionals from the hobbyists. Continue reading →

I’ve always loved alternate versions of familiar places. Books that add the strange, the horrific or the magical to the everyday. It’s one of the reasons I set Transferral in a London that’s recognizably ours, but with one major difference.

There are more versions of London than I can count, in films, television and books. Here I’ve listed a few of my favourite alt London novels. I’ll follow up with films and TV in a later post. Continue reading →